What does it do that you can't do in a pot on the stove or in the oven?

It allows you to put on a pot of rice and FORGET about it. 6 hours later, there's non-burnt rice ready to eat and no boil over on the oven and no smoke in the house. I also use it in the mornings to make oatmeal - "porridge" setting. A cookbook came with mine, there are many settings, many recipes besides just "rice" - I can even bake a cake in mine.

Been reading about rice cookers and they are very simple in nature. They initially boil the water and continue to do so until the water has been all but evaporated. The temperature in the pot will then rise because of the reduced water. This signals via a thermostat, that the water is gone and the cooker then shuts off.

I don't want another appliance to deal with, so my idea is this. Put the water/rice mix in a heavy SS pot with a lid. Stick a temperature probe (remote reading) into the mix and set the oven temp temp to somewhere around 225-250. Set the alarm on the temperature monitor to around 220. The crack developed by the lid will allow steam to escape and commercial cookers do have a vent. When the alarm goes off, turn off the oven an let it rest for a while. You might be able to remove the pot at this point and cover it with a towel to keep the temp from dropping so rapidly.

I think it will work and rice being as cheap as it is, testing won't cost much. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I've been cooking rice in a 2 qt saucepan for as long as I can remember, not that I have anything against rice cookers or anything, but I usually take 2 cups of Basmati or other long grain rice and rinse it 2-3 times and drain. Then add 3cups of water into the sauce pan over the rice with a splash of oil or butter and 1tsp salt. Heat the rice to a boil then reduce heat and cover for 20 min. Turn off the heat and remove from the burner. Allow the rice to rest for 5min and serve. Perfect rice...every time without fail.

My method is not the same as I see here. I have littonware microwave cookware and I just put water in the pan and the level does not matter....using basmati rice (not even rinsed) I cover the bottom of the pan with1/8 inch (approx) of rice then move my rice "pour" to the center of thepan and continue pouring until the rice mound breeches the surface ofthe water level....whatever that level may be...1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches etc....as soon as the rice breaches the surface of the water level, stop pouring...shake the pan to level the rice....sprinkle salt to taste...then microwave UNCOVERED...for 8 mins or so....beeeeeeeeeep....check the rice, if the water is cooked down below the level of the topof the rice, COVER the pan then cook for 2-3 mins longer ( if not, cook a few more microwave mins until the water is below the surface of the rice).....fluff / stir the rice and recover the pan to let the steam work and set aside......8 more mins it will be finished and at the correct temp to serve. So about 16 minsto finished rice. Superheated water does a job on rice grains.

However all that steam has to go somewhere; thought cooking rice in the microwave was kinda messy so I abandoned the approach after about 5 goes at it. I used a ceramic dish with lid- it would rattle like crazy and spray rice goop...

That is an interesting approach to measurement. I will have to tty it.

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